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009 Re:Cyborg

Directed by: Kenji Kamiyama

Release year: 2012

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes

1964: nine ordinary humans from different parts of the world are abducted and transformed into cyborgs in order to be used as weapons. They rebel against their creators in the name of justice, and as their struggle restores world peace, they disappear from the pages of history – and from people's memories. Then in 2013, skyscrapers across the world are hit by suicide bombers, and the nine gather once more to fight an unknown foe. The cyborgs seem to be untouched by the intervening years, but the world around them has changed dramatically – as has the very idea of justice.

13 Assassins

Original title:Juusan-nin No Shikaku

Directed by: Takashi Miike

Release year: 2010

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes

Japan, 1844, a council of elders decides that the depraved and corrupt Lord Naritsugu must be killed before he can achieve high office. To do so, they hire retired samurai Shinzaemon to gather a band of deadly assassins.

A

A Bolt from the Blue

Original title:Seiten No Hekireki

Directed by: Gekidan Hitori

Release year: 2014

BBFC certificate: 12A

Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes

Haruo can't seem to catch a break. Broke and tending bars for a living after failing to become a successful stage magician, he gets a phone call informing him that his estranged father has passed away. On the way to collect his father's belongings, Haruo is struck by a lightning bolt and sent back to the past, to a date not long before he is born and bumps into his 'future' father and mother.

Akira

Directed by: Katsuhiro Otomo

Release year: 1988

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 2 hours 4 minutes

It's 2019, the world is on the brink of absolute destruction. Tokyo shimmers with tech-noir fetishism, gangs of cyber-punk bikers cruise the sprawl of the post-atomic city and rioting crowds surge under the neon-topped buildings looming a thousand storeys into the sky. Now, old gods return to do battle with Akira and something more than comic book ultra-violence is unleashed. Prepare to enter this astonishing nightmare of hyper-reality created by one of the world's leading animation directors, Katsuhiro Otomo.

All About Lily Chou-Chou

Original title:Riri Shushu No Subete

Directed by: Shunji Iwai

Release year: 2001

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 2 hours 26 minutes

Life is harsh for a group of junior high-school students, having to endure bullying and turbulent personal lives. Solace is found in the music of pop star Lily Chou-Chou and an Internet chat room where fans share their fears and secrets.

An Autumn Afternoon

Original title:Sanma No Aji

Directed by: Yasujirou Ozu

Release year: 1962

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hours 52 minutes

The tender story of a widower with a young daughter. Japanese social mores in such an instance dictate that it is her responsibility to take care of her father for the rest of his life, taking the place of her mother. Shuhei Hirayama, however, shuns this course of action and instead arranges a marriage for a highly disinclined Michiko.

Audition

Directed by: Takashi Miike

Release year: 1999

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Seven years on from the death of his wife and Shigeharu Aoyama decides it is time to re-marry. A friend suggests that he might seek out potential spouses by holding auditions for a non-existent video project, and this leads him to meet Asami Yamasaki, a 24-year-old dancer who captivates him immediately. Aoyama begins seeing her on a regular basis, and thinks that she really might be the woman for him, but his friend Yoshikawa becomes suspicious, and, after some investigation, discovers that the young woman is not at all who she claims to be.

B

Battle Royale

Directed by: Kinji Fukasaku

Release year: 2000

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes

In a world where teenagers have no respect and adults are losing control, there can be only one solution: Battle Royale! Now, see what happens when you let a high school class loose on an island, arm them and then give them a simple choice: kill your friends or have them kill you; with poison, cross-bows, machetes and dynamite. Beat Takeshi Kitano is a teacher pushed to the edge by his unruly charges. Kidnapped and gassed, his class wake up with exploding metal rings around their necks. If they rebel, they could lose their heads. Now they have three days and only one is permitted to survive this grisly battle to the death.

Belladonna of Sadness

Original title:Kanashimi No Beradona

Directed by: Eiichi Yamamoto

Release year: 1973

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes

The beautiful peasant woman Jeanne is raped by a demonic overlord on her wedding night. Spurned by her husband, she has no outlet for her awakened libido, which develops to give her powers of witchcraft. Experimental watercolour animation style based on Medieval European witchcraft legends and illustrations.

Big Man Japan

Original title:Dai-Nipponjin

Directed by: Hitoshi Matsumoto

Release year: 2007

BBFC certificate: n/a

Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes

A mockumentary about a middle-aged man who, despite regularly transforming into a 30 metre high giant to protect Japan from attack by giant monsters, is unappreciated by his fellow citizens and struggles to cope with a troubled personal life.

Blue Spring

Original title:Aoi Haru

Directed by: Toshiaki Toyoda

Release year: 2001

BBFC certificate: n/a

Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes

It's the last year of school and Kujo is elected the new boss of all the gangs in his high school. As the year progresses, the disillusioned students become more and more violent as their school becomes a battle field. Soon, challenges to Kujo's authority are threatening the tenuous balance in the school. As graduation draws near, the students face nothing but violence and death.

Branded To Kill

Original title:Koroshi No Rakuin

Directed by: Seijun Suzuki

Release year: 1967

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes

The story of laconic yakuza Hanada, aka No. 3 Killer, the third rated hit-man in Japan who takes an impossible job from the mysterious, death obsessed Misako. Hanada bungles the hit and finds himself the target of his employers and a bullet ridden journey leads him to face the No. 1 Killer.

C

Calligraphists

Original title:Shoka

Directed by: Makoto Yamada

Release year: 2010

BBFC certificate: n/a

Running time: 24 minutes

In Edo, Japan, calligraphists are not mere writers, they can bring drawings to life and wield power over writing. Three calligraphists from the art-wielding clan join up to fight against an exiled calligraphist and his minions to protect the Tokugawa shogunate.

The Cat Returns

Original title:Neko No Ongaeshi

Directed by: Hiroyuki Morita

Release year: 2002

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Unruly young Haru saves a cat from being run over on her way back from school, little realising that the cat is the son of the Cat King. When Haru is invited to visit the Cat King's kingdom, it isn't long before she discovers that the Cat King's plan is to marry her to his son, Prince Lune. Haru must decide if she will stay in the Kingdom of the Cats or return to her own world.

Confessions

Original title:Kokuhaku

Directed by: Tetsuya Nakashima

Release year: 2010

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes

Following the murder of a dedicated teacher's daughter and the two students she believes are responsible, an act of vengeance is set in motion that unravels the lives of her students in a way that none of them could have predicted.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Original title:Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku No Tobira

Directed by: Shinichirou Watanabe

Release year: 2001

BBFC certificate: 12

Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Mars. Days before Halloween 2071. Villains blow up a tanker truck on Highway One, releasing a deadly virus that kills hundreds. Fearing a bigger, even more devastating biochemical attack, an astronomical reward is offered for the arrest and capture of the person behind the destruction. On the spaceship Bebop, Spike Spiegel and his crew of bounty hunters are bored and short of cash. But with the news of the reward everything changes.

D

Dead Sushi

Directed by: Noboru Iguchi

Release year: 2012

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes

Keiko, a cute female trainee sushi chef, finds her kung-fu skills are called upon when some infected flying sushi starts to bite back! As the flesh-hungry man-eating sashimi spring to life with savage teeth, will Keiko be able to save a group of businessmen from the unrelenting terror of the killer fish dishes?

Destroy All Monsters

Original title:Kaijuu Soushingeki

Directed by: Ishirou Honda

Release year: 1968

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes

The world's monsters have been gathered together on an island called Monsterland. But they soon go on the rampage and destroy the world's major cities. The United Nations Scientific Committee are then forced to investigate.

F

Fist of the North Star

Original title:Hokuto No Ken

Directed by: Toyoo Ashida

Release year: 1986

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes

The planet is barren of vegetation. Outlaw bikers and powerful mutants prey on the poor and pathetic survivors. Ken, the Fist of the North Star, is chosen to be the world's saviour and he fights brutally to re-establish peace.

The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker

Original title:Ahiru To Kamo No Koinrokkaa

Directed by: Yoshihiro Nakamura

Release year: 2007

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Moving into his new apartment in Sendai, college student Shiina meets his new neighbor Kawasaki. Tall, confident Kawasaki and short, mild-mannered Shiina seem to be unlikely candidates for friendship, but they click over a mutual interest in Bob Dylan. Kawasaki is an odd duck, but in an irresistibly cool and charming kind of way, and Shiina can't help but be drawn into his more exciting, if slightly loony world. Kawasaki's head is full of unpredictable ideas, like his absurd warnings about pet shop owner Reiko or his even more absurd plan to steal a dictionary for their Bhutanese neighbor. Next thing Shiina knows, he's standing watch with a toy gun outside the bookstore, on the beginning of their bizarre, existential adventure...

From Up On Poppy Hill

Original title:Kokuriko-zaka Kara

Directed by: Goro Miyazaki

Release year: 2011

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes

Set in 1964, just before the Tokyo Olympics, From Up On Poppy Hill is a coming-of-age tale about Umi, a teenager whose father died during wartime, and who looks after her family in their home on a hill above Yokohama. She raises flags each morning for the passing ships which attracts the attention of Shun, a boy from Umi's school. One day, she meets Shun and they band together to prevent their run-down school clubhouse being demolished to make way for a modern building. As the two become closer, they uncover a hidden past between their families.

Funky Forest: The First Contact

Original title:Naisu No Mori

Directed by: Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine, Shunichiro Miki

Release year: 2005

BBFC certificate: n/a

Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Cult filmmaker Katsuhito Ishii collaborates with former schoolmates Shunichiro Miki and Hajime Ishimine to create this absurd anthology of mind-bending short films. Centred on a trio of oddball brothers, this hyper-imaginative experience blends comedy, science fiction and experimentalism to reach new cinematic heights.

G

Ghost in the Shell

Original title:Koukaku Kidoutai

Directed by: Mamoru Oshii

Release year: 1995

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes

In a futuristic world where cyberspace, artificial intelligences and cyborg cops are the norm, only the Ghost (the indefinable element of human consciousness) exists to determine who is alive and who is purely a creation of the Net. Major Motoko Kusanagi is an elite officer in the Shell Squad who has been so heavily modified that little more than her Ghost remains. She is assigned to finding a computer criminal who is skilled enough to hack into the minds of his victims, and she finds that he uses humans as puppets to do his evil deeds. Things soon take on a more sinister twist.

Godzilla

Original title:Gojira

Directed by: Ishirou Honda

Release year: 1954

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes

The eponymous Godzilla, a gigantic radioactive reptile that bursts out of the Pacific Ocean and goes on the rampage in Tokyo, embodies the disastrous consequences of nuclear power and humankind’s tampering with the environment.

A scientist invents the ultimate weapon to overpower the monster, but he becomes more afraid of the possibility that, in human hands, the device will turn into a weapon of mass destruction.

Godzilla: Final Wars

Original title:Gojira: Fainaru Uouzu

Directed by: Ryuuhei Kitamura

Release year: 2004

BBFC certificate: n/a

Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes

Seemingly friendly aliens come to the rescue of the Earth as it is attacked by giant monsters. However, all is not as it seems, and it is up to Godzilla, aided by the Earth Defense Force, to save the planet.

Godzilla vs Destoroyah

Original title:Gojira vs Desutoroiaa

Directed by: Takao Okawara

Release year: 1995

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes

Will Godzilla be the source of his own downfall? The atomic particles that give Godzilla his powers are on the verge of meltdown, and the evil oxygen-destroying monster Destoroyah, Godzilla's most formidable opponent, has invaded the earth. Can he defeat Destoroyah before he self-destructs?

Good Morning

Original title: Ohayou

Directed by: Yasujirou Ozu

Release year: 1959

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes

Disillusioned with the meaningless talk of their elders, two brothers take a vow of silence when their parents refuse to buy them a TV. Good Morning pokes fun at the silliness of everyday chatter whilst gently acknowledging its fundamental necessity.

Gozu

Original title:Gokudou Kyoufu Dai-Gekijou: Gozu

Directed by: Takashi Miike

Release year: 2003

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 2 hours 9 minutes

When senior yakuza Ozaki starts to behave in an increasingly peculiar manner, his superiors start getting worried, and order Ozaki's immediate underling Minami to get rid of him. On the way to the yakuza disposal dump, Minami, nervous about the job ahead of him, hits the brakes too hard and kills Ozaki completely by accident. After he stops to find a telephone to report the incident to his boss, he returns to the car to find that Ozaki's body has vanished. So begins a desperate and increasingly unhinged search that takes in a bizarre array of eccentric and deranged suburbanites, each of whom seems to reflect some weird, dark aspect of Minami's complex and troubled personality.

Grave of the Fireflies

Directed by Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, Grave of the Fireflies is an indelible anime about a brother and sister trying to survive during the Second World War.

Caught up in the fire bombing of Kobe in 1945, Seita and his little sister Setsuko lose their mother and their home. Unable to contact their father on the front line, they flee to the country, stealing or begging for food. The societal breakdown that inevitably followed the razing of the cities means they are left truly alone to fend for themselves.

Undeniably very sad but stunningly rendered, this is a brave animation that does not flinch from the true human tragedy of war.

H

Hafu

Directed by: Megumi Nishikura & Lara Perez Takagi

Release year: 2013

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes

A journey into the intricacies of mixed-race Japanese and their multicultural experiences in modern day Japan. For some hafus, Japan is the only home they know; for some, living in Japan is an entirely new experience, and the others are caught somewhere between two different worlds.

HK: Forbidden Superhero

Original title:HK: Hentai Kamen

Directed by: Yuuichi Fukuda

Release year: 2013

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes

His father was a lawman. His mother was a bondage queen. His destiny was to put knickers on his head and fight for justice. Teenage martial artist Kyosuke Shikijo wants to be a hero. But when the chance comes to foil a bank robbery and win the heart of the girl he adores, the only way to conceal his identity is to put lady's knickers on his head. This triggers his transformation into Hentai Kamen, the Pervert Mask, with the discovery that female underwear brings him undreamed-of superpowers.

Howl's Moving Castle

Original title:Hauru No Ugoku Shiro

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

Release year: 2004

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes

In an indefinable world where war rages, young Sophie is unexpectedly cursed and finds herself turned into a 90-year-old woman. She hitches a ride with the beautiful, self-obsessed, literally heartless wizard Howl on his amazing castle that crosses the countryside on scaly chicken legs. And thus her adventure begins. Once again Miyazaki imbues his world with wonder, intricately creating another universe that'll leave you gasping for more.

I Wish

Original title:Kiseki

Directed by: Hirokazu Kore-eda

Release year: 2011

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 2 hours 8 minutes

Koichi is a young boy living with his mother and missing his sibling, who lives with his father. The boys, with help from their grandfather, decide to skip school and meet up, resulting in an exciting adventure.

Ichi The Killer

Original title:Koroshiya 1

Directed by: Takashi Miike

Release year: 2001

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 2 hours 9 minutes

Anjo, the boss of a Yakuza clan, has made off with all the clan's money, and the gang begin a merciless and bloody campaign to track him down, led by sado-masochism addict Kakihara, who is suffering withdrawal symptoms from Anjo's incessant cruelty and violence. The main culprit emerges as Ichi, a mysterious psychopath with a dark childhood secret, who works for a retired Yakuza as an unstoppable killing machine. Kakihara is thrilled to have found a sadistic substitute for his departed boss, and is desperate to experience Ichi's ultimate brutality, even if it means death.

Isao Takahata and his Tale of Princess Kaguya

Original title:Ikiterumono Wa Inainoka

Directed by: Akira Miki & Hidekazu Sato

Release year: 2014

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hour 26 minutes

Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata embarks on the production of The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, his first film in 14 years. This documentary covers the process by which he came to take on the project, the pre-recording of the character voices, and the reasons behind the unique animation style used in The Tale of The Princess Kaguya.

Isn't Anyone Alive?

Original title:Ikiterumono Wa Inainoka

Directed by: Gakuryu Ishii

Release year: 2012

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes

When people talk about a bizarre urban myth at a university hospital, people start dying inexplicably one after another... With the air of this 'energy void' throughout, the world of this absurd black comedy, based upon the theatre play of the same name, starts to take over the world.

J

Jinx!!!

Directed by: Naoto Kumazawa

Release year: 2013

BBFC certificate: 12A

Running time: 2 hours 2 minutes

Korean exchange student in Japan Ji-ho plays matchmaker for her two lukewarm Japanese friends, teaching them all about love and letting loose a number of Korean-style love 'jinxs' on them. Encouraging a rather clumsy romance to blossom, Ji-ho helps her introverted Japanese friend Kaede to use Korean-style romance tactics to attract Yusuke, the boy Kaede has loved ever since high school.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

This enchanting documentary follows elderly Japanese master chef Jiro Ono, chronicling his almost fanatical quest to perfect the art of sushi at his three-Michelin-star restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro.

Beyond Jiro's kitchen, the film also profiles the old man's two sons: Yoshikazu, destined to one day take over his father's flagship restaurant, and Takashi, already running a successful restaurant of his own. A quietly moving homage to a gastronomic dynasty and a revealing insight into a secretive, perfectionist world, Jiro Dreams of Sushi is one of a kind.

K

Kuroneko

Original title:Yabu No Naka No Kuroneko

Directed by: Kaneto Shindou

Release year: 1968

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes

Loosely based on the Japanese folk tale The Cat's Return, a mother and daughter-in-law are raped and murdered by pillagers, but return from the dead as vampiric cat spirits intent on revenge. As the ghosts lure soldiers into the bamboo groves, a fearless samurai, Gintoki, is sent to stop their reign of terror.

L

Late Spring

Original title:Banshun

Directed by: Yasujirou Ozu

Release year: 1949

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hour 48 minute

Noriko and her father live together in perfect harmony, but old certainties are put at risk when an interfering aunt raises the question of marriage. Late Spring poignantly examines the gradual compromise between modernity and tradition.

Like Father, Like Son

Original title:Soshite Chichi Ni Naru

Directed by: Hirokazu Kore-eda

Release year: 2013

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 2 hours 1 minute

Ryota's hard work has earned him everything he has, and he believes that nothing can stop him from pursuing the perfect life. Then one day, he and his wife Midori get an unexpected phone call from the hospital. Their six-year-old son, Keita, is not their biological son after all; he was swapped at birth. Following official recommendations, Ryota and Midori swap sons with the family who have been caring for their biological son for the past six years.

Lone Wolf & Club: Baby Cart To Hades

Original title:Kozure Oukami: Shinikazeni Mukau Ubaguruma

Directed by: Kenji Misumi

Release year: 1972

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes

Ogami Itto, otherwise known as the Lone Wolf, provides a rare display of compassion when he rescues a young girl from her pimp. On the road again, the Wolf finds his services in demand, as he and the child Diagoro, the Cub, travel a violent path to Hades.

Memories of Matsuko

Original title:Kiraware Matsuko No Isshou

Directed by: Tetsuya Nakashima

Release year: 2006

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes

When layabout, Sho, is tasked with clearing out the apartment of his recently-murdered aunt, whom he didnt know, he begins to uncover details of her colourful life and the events that led to its unhappy end.

Mitsuko Delivers

Original title:Hara Ga Kore Nande

Directed by: Yuuya Ishii

Release year: 2011

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes

Mitsuko is a young woman who believes everything will be okay and always tries to help those around her. One day, she met an American man and wanted to help him. They became involved in a relationship and she moved with him to California. A little later, her boyfriend left her and Mitsuko returned to Japan alone. Her parents, who runs a pachinko parlour, still thinks Mitsuko is living happily in California.

Now, Mitsuko is nine-months pregnant, unmarried & almost broke. She has to move out of her apartment. Yet, Mitsuko still believes everything will be okay. Mitsuko doesn't know where she will go, but she lays downs on a bench and watches where the wind blows. Mitsuko then knows where she will go. She'll visit an elderly woman who was her parent's landlord many years ago. Mitsuko will also see again the boy that held a life-long crush on her.

Moving

Original title:Ohikkoshi

Directed by: Shinji Soumai

Release year: 1993

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes

Renko's mum and dad are splitting up and her heart is burning, so she plays with fire, tears up the rule book, holds herself hostage and even starts talking to the weird girl in school – the only other one with divorced parents.

My Neighbour Totoro

Miyazaki's superbly animated tale is considered to be one of the best-loved family films of all time.

The story follows Satsuki and Mei, two young girls who find their new home is by a mystical forest inhabited by a menagerie of fantastical creatures called Totoros. They befriend O-Totoro, the biggest and eldest of them, and king of the forest. While the girls' mother lies sick in hospital, O-Totoro takes them on a magical adventure and helps them to understand the realities of life.

Containing a powerful ecological theme, this is a lovingly crafted work of depth, import and beauty.

N

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Original title:Kaze No Tani No Nauskika

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

Release year: 1984

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Set in a distant future after human civilisation has been wiped out in a global war known as the 'Seven Days of Fire'. In the isolated Valley of the Wind, Princess Nausicaa rules over a small group of survivors, the valley bordered on all sides by a toxic jungle guarded by monstrous insect creatures. This equilibrium is about to be disturbed though, as a new struggle for earthly domination threatens to unfold.

Nobody to Watch Over Me

Original title:Dare Mo Mamotte Kurenai

Directed by: Ryouichi Kimizuka

Release year: 2008

BBFC certificate: 12A

Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes

Focusing on the accused's sister, bright-eyed high school student Saori, this deep thriller follows the suffering of the family of a teenage murderer and the struggles of Detective Katsuura ordered to protect them from the unwanted media onslaught and public scrutiny. In a deadly game of hide and seek, malicious netizens unsatisfied with the young suspect in custody expose the family's personal information, as well as their every move.

Onibaba

Directed by: Kaneto Shindou

Release year: 1964

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes

Set during a brutal period in history, a Japan ravaged by civil war between rivalling shogunates. Weary from combat, samurai are drawn towards the seven-foot high susuki grass fields to hide and rest themselves, whereupon they are ambushed and murdered by a ruthless mother and daughter-in-law team. The women throw the samurai bodies into a pit, and barter their armour and weapons for food. When Hachi, a neighbour returning from the wars, brings bad news, he threatens the women's partnership.

P

Patema Inverted

Original title:Sakasama No Patema

Directed by: Yasuhiro Yoshiura

Release year: 2013

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes

Patema has lived her whole life underground. Following a catastrophic attempt to harness alternative power sources, her community were driven to settle in a dark, cramped network of tunnels below ground. She roams them by torchlight, dreaming of adventures on the surface. But she gets more adventure than she bargained for when she sneaks into a forbidden area of the settlement that takes her above ground. Patema's world is turned upside-down – literally! Gravity pulls her away and she must rely on Age, a local boy, to help keep her on the ground. Gravity isn’t the only force at work here though: the pair are about to be pulled into something much bigger...

Pigs and Battleships

Original title: Buto No Gunkan

Directed by: Shouhei Imamura

Release year: 1961

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 17 minutes

A riotous portrait of sub-Yakuza gangsters battling for control of the local pork business in a US Navy-occupied coastal town, Imamura conjures a chaotic world of petty thugs, young love, tough-headed women, and underworld hypochondria, with one of the most unforgettable climaxes ever to grace the screen.

Pom Poko

Directed by: Isao Takahata

Release year: 1994

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes

As civilization draws ever nearer to their idyllic forest home, a group of mischievous Japanese raccoons try to scare humans away. But they soon discover that man is not their only rival in their struggle for their age-old territory.

Ponyo

Original title:Gake No Ue No Ponyo

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

Release year: 2008

BBFC certificate: U

Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes

Five-year-old boy Sosuke lives in a cliff-top house with his mother Lisa, the pair of them waiting for sea-faring father Koichi to return home. Down at the water's edge, Sosuke spots a glass jar containing a goldfish called Ponyo, who has momentarily escaped her wizard father, Fujimoto. He uses magic to snatch back Ponyo, but his defiant daughter taps into her rapidly developing powers to metamorphose into a little girl and find her way back to Sosuke. A touching, modern retelling of the classic The Little Mermaid story that's fun for kids of all ages!

Porco Rosso

Original title:Kurenai No Buta

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

Release year: 1992

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes

Set in the 1930s, Porco Rosso is a talented fighter pilot who is turned into a pig by a magic spell. Adapting well to his porcine transformation, Porco sells himself out as a pilot for hire, until a big shot American pilot arrives, looking to make a name for himself by shooting down the Crimson Pig. With his feisty sidekick, Fio, Porco gets his battered plane back into shape for the big show down.

Princess Mononoke

Original title:Mononoke-hime

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

Release year: 1997

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 2 hours 8 minutes

Set in medieval Japan, Princess Mononoke is the tale of a demon-cursed young warrior who travels far in search of a cure. His journey leads to a forest where animal gods, led by the eponymous princess, are fighting against human invaders, in an echo of the eco-battles of contemporary Japan.

R

Rain Town

Directed by: Hiroyasu Ishida

Release year: 2011

BBFC certificate: n/a

Running time: 10 minutes

In this town, since who knows when, rain has never stopped. Residents moved out to suburbs and high ground around 'raintown.' People's memories are now deeply submerged. But into this forgotten rainy town sometimes, someone wanders.

Rashomon

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Release year: 1950

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes

Set in 11th Century Japan, a time of social crisis, with pestilence, fires and civil war. Three characters seek shelter from a driving rainstorm beneath the ruined Rashomon gate that guards the southern entrance to the court capital. As they wait for the storm to pass, the priest, the woodcutter and the commoner discuss a recent and scandalous crime – a noblewoman was raped in the forest, her samurai husband killed as a result of either murder or suicide, and a thief named Tajomaru was arrested for the crime.

Redline

Directed by: Takeshi Koike

Release year: 2009

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes

The most dangerous and exciting car race in the universe is held only once every five years, and that's tonight. The competitors are lined up at the starting block. In his vehicle, JP, the most daredevil driver on the circuit, is ready for the green light. Female driver Sonoshee, with whom he is secretly in love, is also on the starting line. She will stop at nothing to get onto that podium. In this race, not only is anything possible, but also anything is allowed.

Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends

Original title:Rurouni Kenshin: Densetsu No Saigo-hen

Directed by: Keishi Otomo

Release year: 2014

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 2 hour 14 minutes

A samurai who has vowed never to kill again is called upon to save the Meji government. Disgraced assassin Shishio, who was once contracted by the government, embarks on a mission to destroy it and return Japan to chaos. Wandering samurai Kenshin is forced to come out of retirement in order to prevent him from succeeding and rescue the love of his life, Kaoru Kamiya. Kenshin must train with his old master to prepare for a final showdown with his old foe.

S

Shogun Assassin

Directed by: Robert Houston

Release year: 1980

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes

A master Samurai warrior refuses to work for the Emperor. As a result, assassins kill his wife and he is forced to flee with his son. Travelling around the world he is determined take revenge on the Emperor's assassins.

Sonatine

Directed by: Takeshi Kitano

Release year: 1993

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Murakawa is a powerful and trusted gangster who is persuaded to travel to Okinawa to help clear up a dispute between rival gangs. The task proves anything but easy, and as bloody conflict erupts around him, Murakawa realises that he has been set up, and decides to retreat to a secret seaside hideaway, where he and his friends kill time and play games as they wait for their enemies to arrive.

Spirited Away

Original title:Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

Release year: 2001

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes

Welcome to the magical world of Spirited Away, where a dazzling array of weird and wonderful gods come to take the waters in an enchanted bathhouse. Surly ten-year-old girl Chihiro stumbles onto this parallel universe when her parents are spirited away by the greedy sorceress in charge, and she must change her ways in order to save them. Like other Studio Ghibli films, Miyazaki's masterpiece features an incredible, inventive plot, beautifully rendered character and background animation, and an attention to detail that is breathtaking.

Stray Dog

Original title:Nora Inu

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Release year: 1949

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 2 hours 2 minutes

Director Akira Kurosawa's first police thriller follows a young cop and his older, wiser partner as they track down a thief who stole the rookie's gun to use for a murder. The underbelly of Tokyo is a sweaty, seedy world of barely repressed violence.

Summer Wars

Directed by: Mamoru Hosoda

Release year: 2009

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes

Eleventh grade maths genius, Kenji, agrees to take a summer job at the Nagano home town of his crush, Natsuki. When he arrives, he finds that her family have reunited to celebrate the 90th birthday of the family matriarch and his job is to pretend to be Natsuki's fiancé. Meanwhile, his attempt to solve a mathematical equation causes chaos in the on-line virtual world of OZ and it is up to Kenji, Natsuki and her family to bring OZ back under control.

The Sun's Burial

Original title:Taiyou No Hakaba

Directed by: Nagisa Oushima

Release year: 1960

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes

Set in the post-war slums of Osaka, it follows the lives and fates of the denizens of this hellish ghetto. Pimps, prostitutes, drug addicts, vagrants, hustlers and gangsters struggle to survive amidst the poverty and decay of 1950's Japan. Unflinching in it's portrayal of life in these slums, the film goes beyond a documentary-style realism to achieve a garish, lurid Cinemascope aesthetic that is at once repulsive and yet mesmerising. It's a pitiless and dispassionate portrait of a living hell that lurks behind the façade of a prosperous new Japan, a place where everything -- food, sex, even blood -- is simply a commodity to be stolen and sold.

Tatsumi

Directed by: Eric Khoo

Release year: 2011

BBFC certificate: 15

Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes

Tatsumi is an impressive animation that interweaves biographical material detailing the life of Japanese comics creator Yoshihiro Tatsumi, with a selection of his stories tackling life's darker underbelly. With episodes that explore sexuality and transgressive behaviour, Tatsumi captures the passion of a true artistic genius who changed the history of Japanese comics, creating an alternative genre for adults.

Tekkonkinkreet

Directed by: Michael Arias

Release year: 2006

BBFC certificate: 12

Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes

Black and White, two street urchins living in the metropolis of Treasure Town, are forced to act when ruthless developers try to replace the heart of their city with a theme park, contracting local yakuza bosses to clear any potential obstacles in their way. Armed with exceptional fighting skills and the ability to fly, Black and White must thwart the efforts of the gangs and some deadly alien assassins if they are to keep the city they love. A metaphor for the struggle for survival against an ever-advancing tide of commercialism.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Original title:Tetsuo

Directed by: Shinya Tsukamoto

Release year: 1989

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 7 minutes

A strange man known only as the 'metal fetishist', who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese salaryman, out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal, and that his nemesis is not in fact dead but is somehow masterminding and guiding his rage and frustration-fueled transformation.

Throne of Blood

Original title:Kumonosu-Jou

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Release year: 1957

BBFC certificate: 12

Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Based upon Shakespeare's hit play from 1611, Macbeth, Kurosawa gives the story a samurai treatment. Washizu is to be honoured by Lord Tsuzuki. On the way to the Lord's castle, however, he becomes lost in Cobweb Forest, encountering a demon who prophesises his future. Plagued by the promises he has been made, and urged onwards by his wife Asaji, Washizu will bathe the clan throne in blood.

Tokyo Decadence

Original title:Topaazu

Directed by: Ryuu Murakami

Release year: 1992

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Emotionally unbalanced young student Ai turns to S&M prostitution for Tokyo's rich-set and businessmen in her never-ending quest for a love she doesn't have. Lacking the hard-headed emotional distance of a real prostitute, Ai is more and more affected by her sojourn in the world of Tokyo salarymen's sick behaviour.

U

Unforgiven

Inspired by the Clint Eastwood film of the same name, this remake is set in Japan during the same period as the original film.

The story takes place at the dawn of the Meiji Era in 1880, set in Ezo (now Hokkaido), the northernmost island of Japan. After the fall of the Shogunate, Jubei fought in a series of battles, then vanished.

More than ten years have passed. Poverty leads Jubei to abandon his resolve to bury his sword. Once again, he finds himself ensnared in a life of violence. With his former comrade-in-arms, he confronts hypocrites who profess to represent justice.

V

The Vancouver Asahi

Directed by: Yuuya Ishii

Release year: 2014

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 2 hours 14 minutes

A film about Canadian-born first-generation Japanese immigrants in Vancouver in the 1930s who started their own baseball team, the Vancouver Asahi. Out-sized and out-muscled by their Caucasian opponents and in the face of racism and prejudice, the team rethinks its strategy and starts to find success.

Vengeance is Mine

Original title:Fukushuu Suru Wa Ware Ni Ari

Directed by: Shouhei Imamura

Release year: 1979

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Unfolding through multiple flashbacks, Ken Ogata delivers a career-defining performance as a day-labourer and small time con-artist who, after killing two of his co-workers, embarks on a psychopathic spree of rape and murder. Eluding the police and public, Japan's infamous King of Criminals passes himself off as a Kyoto University professor, only to become entangled with an inn keeper and her perverted mother. Five years in the making, Vengeance Is Mine transcends the imitations of run-of-the-mill criminal studies by presenting a portrait of a killer imbued with a poignant, tragic banality.

Visitor Q

Directed by: Takashi Miike

Release year: 2001

BBFC certificate: 18

Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes

More outrageous and deranged fare from Japanese director Takashi Miike, featuring everything from incest, sodomy and necrophilia to a lactating mother who breast feeds her husband and adult daughter. Failed reporter Kiyoshi Yamazaki visits a brothel to make a documentary about debauched youths, and is surprised to encounter his estranged daughter who has become a prostitute. He then meets a stranger, 'Q', and invites him back to his home to meet the rest of his staggeringly dysfunctional family. 'Q' embarks on a mission to teach each family member a lesson they'll never forget.

W

Welcome to the Space Show

Original title:Uchuu Shou E Youkoso

Directed by: Kouji Masunari

Release year: 2010

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 2 hours 16 minutes

A group of children at summer camp save the life of a dog-like alien and are rewarded by being taken to an alien colony on the far side of the Moon.
However, when the route back to Earth is blocked, they have to travel the galaxy searching for alternative means of returning home, whilst avoiding the aliens that injured their new friend.

The Wind Rises

Original title:Kaze Tachinu

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

Release year: 2013

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 2 hours 6 minutes

Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni. Nearsighted from a young age and unable to be a pilot, Jiro joins a major Japanese engineering company in 1927 and becomes one of the world's most innovative and accomplished airplane designers. The film chronicles much of his life, depicting key historical events, including the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic and Japan's plunge into war. Jiro meets and falls in love with Nahoko, and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo.

Wolf Children

Original title:Okami Kodomo No Ame To Yuki

Directed by: Mamoru Hosoda

Release year: 2012

BBFC certificate: PG

Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Hana is a 19-year-old student who falls in fairy-tale like love with a wolf man. Over the course of the 13-year story, Hana gives birth to two children – older sister Yuki, and younger brother Ame, or 'Snow' and 'Rain'. At first, the family quietly lives in the city trying to hide their wolf heritage, but when the wolf man suddenly dies, Hana makes the decision to move to a rural town, far from their previous city life.

Wood Job!

Directed by: Shinobu Yaguchi

Release year: 2014

BBFC certificate: 12A

Running time: 1 hours 56 minutes

Having flunked his university entrance exams, 18-year-old Yuki abruptly decides to leave the city behind to take part in a one-year forestry programme, swayed not by a passion for all things lumberjack-related but simply the attractive girl on the programme’s brochure. Knowing little of what lies ahead, Yuki winds up in rural Kamusari, a small village deep in the mountains. Far, far away from convenience stores or mobile phone reception and facing an entirely new way of life, he begins to find out that the job is a lot tougher than he imagined.

The Woodsman and the Rain

Original title:Kitsutsuki To Ame

Directed by: Shuuichi Okita

Release year: 2011

BBFC certificate: 12

Running time: 2 hours 9 minutes

Katsu, a 60 year-old lumberjack, lives in a small, tranquil village in the mountains. When a film crew suddenly arrives to shoot a zombie movie, Katsu finds himself unwittingly roped into assisting the production and is increasing frustrated by the pushy crew, especially the young, seemingly spineless director Koichi.

However, an improbable friendship soon develops between Katsu and Koichi, as Katsu comes to see joy in the film making process, and gradually helps Koichi to recover his sense of self. Soon, their bond inspires an unusual collaboration between the villagers and the film crew.